1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector and to means for both locking terminals in place within an insulative housing in the connector and for shunting plural terminals within the connector, and more particularly relates to an easily manufactured locking and shunting assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical connectors having terminals secured within the connector by resilient insulative latch arms which forms part of the connector housing are used in applications where it is essential to have the terminals locked or held in place within the connector housing. Some connectors of this type employ secondary locking members which can be inserted into the mating face of a connector housing to engage the terminal latch arms which comprise an integral part of the housing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,542 discloses one example of a connector of this type.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 049,633 filed May 13, 1987 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,258 discloses an electrical connector in which a locking member, insertable from the mating end of a plug connector, includes a plurality of resilient shunt members attached to one surface of the generally planar insulative locking member. That patent application discloses a method of securing the shunt members to the insulative housing by cold staking a central boss to permanently deformingly enlarge the top of the central boss to overlap free ends of lock tabs on a fixed end of the shunt.
The instant invention constitutes an improved locking shunt assembly in which the individual resilient shunts can be assembled to a generally planar insulative locking member by simply sliding each shunt parallel to a shunt lengthwise axis along an upper surface of the generally planar locking member to secure the leading end and the trailing end of each shunt to the locking member. No reciprocal action or staking is necessary.